Free Republic

To go by the pronouncements coming out of Germany over the last couple of weeks, you might naturally conclude that the euro is toast. Speaking before Parliament, Chancellor Angela Merkel broadly rejected “counterproductive” proposals to pool Europe’s resources to help floundering Mediterranean nations. Germany’s “strength is not infinite,” she stressed.

PICTURES: MBDA sharpens Spear missile design for F-35 integration European manufacturer MBDA has unveiled a UK-developed design for a next-generation air-to-surface weapon suitable for internal carriage by the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. To be shown for the first time as a full-scale mock-up at the Farnborough air show, the Spear concept would use a turbojet engine and a wing kit to provide a stand-off range of about 100km (54nm). "Speed and range are the two main drivers" behind this configuration, says Rob Thornley, export working group leader for MBDA UK. "Another key requirement is to provide multiple load-out...

Despite the euro crisis becoming increasingly dire as European governments scramble to patch up the broken banking system in Spain and shore up sovereign debt and budget deficits, French citizens still overwhelmingly want to go on vacation this summer. According to an l’Institut Français d’Opinion Publique (IFOP) poll, 73 percent of French citizens — a sizeable increase from last year — are still considering going on vacation this summer, with nearly a quarter saying that vacations of “three weeks” are ideal. If you thought the French weren’t belt-tightening, however, you’d be wrong. More French citizens seem to prefer shorter vacations...

The Archbishop of Canterbury is writing a book in which he lambasts the government for shrinking the State. In its current ‘shrunken’ form, the state accounts for around half of the UK economy. This is evidently sinful. It should be bigger, presumably like the economies of the former communist countries of Eastern Europe. Anglicanism has become extremely political. The Archbishop's Council has just reprimanded the government for vetoing changes to the EU treaty last December and warned them not to think of leaving the EU. In his speech at the St. Paul’s service to mark the Queen’s diamond jubilee, the...

Germany has told Greece to stop asking for more help and get on with implementing the reforms it has already promised as tensions mount before this week’s crucial summit of European Union leaders. German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble In unusually blunt remarks, German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said: “The most important task facing new prime minister [Antonis] Samaras is to enact the programme agreed upon quickly and without further delay instead of asking how much more others can do for Greece.” His comments highlight Germany’s growing impatience with the eurozone’s problem nations in what is shaping up to be another...

An NHS hospital trust has been formally warned it could be declared bust - in the first case of its kind. South London Healthcare, which runs three hospitals, had debts of £69m at the start of the financial year. The health secretary has told the trust an administrator could be brought in within weeks. The trust could be dissolved and some services closed. As well as struggling financially, the trust also has some of the longest waiting times for operations, and longer than average waits in A&E. However, it does have low infection and death rates. If a decision was...

The planned unveiling in London of a memorial to the 55,573 Royal Air Force Bomber Command airmen killed in World War II has sparked muted criticism in Germany, where many regard the Allied air raids that destroyed entire cities and killed over 500,000 civilians as unjustified and criminal. Helma Orosz, the mayor of Dresden, which was devastated in an Allied attack in February 1945, criticized the plans for the monument when they first became public in 2010, and spoke to London Mayor Boris Johnson about it. "The planned memorial triggered astonishment in Dresden and was judged critically by us in...

Royal Bank of Scotland is facing calls to make payments as soon as possible to customers affected by its long-running computer crisis, as it admitted NatWest branches would again be opened for extended hours on Monday. The bank, whose NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster branches have all been hit by the problem, has unveiled a three-point plan to try to ensure consumers were not left out of pocket. RBS first encountered problems with its computer systems on Tuesday after an upgrade of its software, and has since been struggling to resolve the issues. Customers found payments had not...

England have crashed out of Euro 2012 on penalties to Italy - the sixth defeat in their previous seven shoot-outs.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) “got it wrong” in its reporting of the massacre of the Fogel family by Arab terrorists in the Jewish community of Itamar, the broadcaster's outgoing director-general admitted at a parliamentary committee hearing. The BBC’s Mark Thompson acquiesced on June 19 while being questioned by Conservative member of parliament Louise Mensch, the London Jewish Chronicle reported. In complaining about the insufficient coverage of the event on BBC radio and television programs, the newspaper reported that Mensch said, “I only found out, after the event, from an American blog, called ‘Dead Jews is no news,’ and the...

LONDON (AP) — Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Saturday that the euro will only survive if Germany underwrites the debts of the eurozone's financially struggling members. He told BBC television that safeguarding the euro would need Berlin to "treat the debts of one as the debts of all," and debt-wracked nations to carry out reforms which would help restore Europe to competitiveness. "The only thing that will save the single currency now is in a sense a sort of grand plan in which Germany is prepared to commit its economy fully to the single currency," said Blair, who...

Turkey says future visa-free travel will work out well because Turks no longer want to live in the EU. (Turkey's) European affairs minister Egemen Bağış told EUobserver on Friday (22 June) that Turks these days travel to EU capitals "to spend [money]" in shops and hotels. "In the past, when Turks were asked do you want to live in Europe, 80 percent would say Yes. Now, 85 percent say No. Turkish citizens feel there is more hope in Turkey; better job opportunities," he said. He noted that in 2010, 27,000 Turks went to live in Germany, but 35,000 German citizens...

'THE family of a cancer-stricken schoolgirl are trying to raise £140,000 so she can be brought home to die. Olivia Downie took a turn for the worse after flying to Mexico for treatment. Doctors now say she is too ill to fly home without medical support. And that means her desperate parents face a massive bill to get her back to Scotland.'

Alan Turing, the British mathematical genius and codebreaker born 100 years ago on 23 June, may not have committed suicide, as is widely believed. At a conference in Oxford on Saturday, Turing expert Professor Jack Copeland will question the evidence that was presented at the 1954 inquest. He believes the evidence would not today be accepted as sufficient to establish a suicide verdict. Indeed, he argues, Turing's death may equally probably have been an accident. What is well known and accepted is that Alan Turing died of cyanide poisoning. … Professor Copeland believes the alternative explanation made at the time...

For most Europeans, almost nothing is more prized than their four to six weeks of guaranteed annual vacation leave. But it was not clear just how sacrosanct that time off was until Thursday, when Europe’s highest court ruled that workers who happened to get sick on vacation were legally entitled to take another vacation. ................................................. The Court of Justice had previously ruled that a person who gets sick before going on vacation is entitled to reschedule the vacation, and on Thursday it said that right extended into the vacation itself.

The boss of the UK’s largest electricity generator and distributor has warned of imminent electricity price rises across Europe, due to the perceived demands of moving towards a low-carbon economy. Asked how that transition could be paid for, Vincent de Rivaz, chief executive of EDF Energy, told a meeting in the European Parliament on 19 June that there was “an urgent need for new capacity” in many countries, especially in Britain. “It would be a mockery to deny that the price will go up,” he continued. “It is impossible to invest £110 billion (€134 billion, $172 billion) in electricity generation...

Bank say they are 'experiencing technical issues which mean that a number of customer account balances have not been updated' Bank unable to confirm how many of its 7.5 million customers are affected Bank admits the problem isn't fixed, and customers expecting to be paid tonight could also be affected NatWest say over 1,000 branches will stay open until 7pm to help customers Millions of NatWest and Royal Bank of Scotland customers have been hit by a technical fault which meant salaries were not paid into their accounts. Millions more could be affected today. Tax credits and other payments did...

SIR – In his headlong rush to replace Trident, Philip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, seems to be overlooking the basic question of whether it remains viable for Britain to continue independently developing and maintaining its own nuclear submarines (report, June 18). He should take into account the chronic squeeze on British defence funding, the limited number of hulls it can afford, ever more stringent safety standards, and the long-term erosion of Britain's nuclear expertise. By developing an independent design for the new submarine, the Government is opening itself up to allegations that the Trident replacement programme is just an excuse...

A vulnerable man with mental health difficulties told a jury he feared he would be killed when a gang of teenagers hurled bricks at him in a mob attack. Matthew Ellis underwent emergency brain surgery after he was struck on the head with one of the missiles. He also suffered a fractured arm when he was hit with his own metal detector which one of his attackers wielded like a club, Bradford Crown Court was told yesterday. Mr Ellis, then 39, told police, in a video interview shown to the court, that “it really, really hurt” when he was hit...